(Lake Whales, FL) A depleted Park University Gilbert women’s basketball team lost its eighth straight game, dropping its opening contest in the Warner Classic in Lake Wales, Fla., to host school Warner University 77-71. The Buccaneers have not won a game since opening the season 2-0 and now fall to 2-8 on the year. The Buccaneers only travelled with nine players and only have one true post in Jazmyne Jenkins.
The first half saw the Bucs fall behind 20-15 after the first quarter before rallying behind 26 second quarter points to take a five-point lead into the break 41-36. Seven different players scored in the first half with shooting guard Kayla Schroeder leading the way with 17 points. She was 7-9 from the floor and 3-5 from beyond the arc. As a team, the Bucs shot 48 percent for the half and 50 percent from three-point range. The Buccaneers capitalized on the 13 first half turnovers they forced, turning them into 23 points. The Buccos also converted seven offensive boards into eight second chance points.
The third quarter started slowly for the Bucs as the Royals opened the frame with a 5-0 run to tie the contest at 41-all. But after a timeout, the Bucs outscored the Royals 14-6 the remainder of the quarter to increase its advantage to eight.
The Buccaneers were able to do this despite Jenkins and Markus in foul difficulty, Jenkins missing most of the third quarter and a good portion of the fourth with four fouls. Jenkins would eventually foul out of the contest after returning in the fourth and Markus would foul out late in the game as the Bucs were fouling in an effort to come back. The loss of Jenkins meant the Buccaneers had a frontcourt with players 5-5, 5-8 and 5-8. (Kianna Turenne, Madison Chappell and Sophie Scott) giving away 15 inches in height against a Warner frontcourt with players 5-10, 6-0 and 6-2. While the Buccaneer held their own on the glass only losing the rebounding battle by five (40-35), the Bucs were devastated in points in the paint being outscored by 30 (40-10).
So far in every loss in the losing streak, the Buccaneers lost the third quarter scoring battle. In the Bucs two road losses to start this losing streak, they held the advantage on the scoreboard going into the fourth, but a poor shooting fourth quarter was their undoing.
Again, a poor shooting fourth quarter was the Bucs undoing. The Royals went on a 11-0 run to start the stanza to eliminate the Park Gilbert lead, but the visitors would fight back to tie the score at 58 before regaining the lead at 63-60. This would be the last lead Park Gilbert would hold in the game as Warner would retake the lead 64-63. The Buccaneers managed to tie the score at 66-66 with 2:49 remaining in the game, but this would be the last field goal the Buccaneers would score for the game. The Royals would finish on an 11-5 run for the final six-point margin of victory at the end. Park only shot 25 percent in the quarter and a dismal 24 percent for the entire half.
The poor second half shooting, brought the Bucs field goal percentage back down to earth as they shot 36 percent for the game from both the floor and three-point range. Warner shot 48 percent for the second half and 47 percent for the game.
Individually, Schroeder finished with 22 points and 5 rebounds, Turenne had 15 points and eight rebounds and Jayla Reliford had 10 points and seven assists.
The Buccaneers will get an even sterner test tomorrow in their final game of the classic as they will take on Ave Maria. Ave Maria is 11-3 and coming off of a close loss in its first game in the Warner Classic to Olivet Nazarene. The Gyrenes own a win over No. 6 Southeastern this season and will provide a tough test for the Bucs if they want to bring their losing streak to an end.
